Aftershock
by strodgfrgf
Summary: I was his lackey. I did the dirty work. And I couldn't refuse any of it." Link unwillingly works for Ganon, an underground superpower. Then he gets the job of caring for Ganon's new captive, Zelda, a rich businessman's daughter... Au modern. Zelink
1. Chapter 1

**Well here we go… a new story! Yay! This is my first Zelda fic so please review and **

**tell me what you think! I'll probably be updating this by tomorrow… probably…**

**This is going to be a bit darker than things I usually write, so be warned! **

**I don't own The Legend of Zelda. All characters are owned by Nintendo.**

_Prologue-_

_I sat up groggily, my head pounded and my exact location was unclear to me. I felt a chill go through me and realized I was entirely naked, lying on a cold floor. I was stiff and ached everywhere. With a hazy observation, I concluded I was in my apartment. _

_I stung on every inch of my body, and I could tell _something_ was at least sprained on my left leg. My face scrunched up in pain when I tried to move. My cheeks were stiff; something was coating my cheeks and chin in a sticky and itchy layer. My heart sped up frantically. _

'_No! Please, God, no!' I silently pleaded. I squinted my eyes shut as a groan of agony fell out from my mouth. I hesitantly opened my eyes and glanced down at my dirty hands. _

_Blood_

_My breathing stopped and suddenly nausea overtook me. I rolled over onto my side and vomited on the linoleum underneath me. Dry heaves raked my system after all that was in my stomach emptied out. _

_I had killed. Again. Probably dozens of people. And I didn't even remember doing it. _

_I just laid there for a few minutes. Maybe it was hours, it didn't matter. I had once again taken the lives of living people. Innocent, guilty, it held no consequence. _

_I had killed them, with my fangs, teeth, claws._

_Once again I had been turned into that horrible, disgusting creature that thirsted for blood. _

'_Block it out,' my mind chanted. 'Just block it out.' But it was no use. I could hear a deadly growling in my head, see horrified faces just before they were ripped to shreds, feel the flesh between my teeth being torn from a person's bones, and I could smell blood. Everywhere. On myself._

_Forcing myself up, I ran over to the sink and began frantically washing the blood off of my murderous hands._

_No amount of soap was going to make the disgusted feeling within go away. All the same, I stuck my head under the faucet, ignoring the ice cold water, to calm myself down. My face scrunched up in agony as angry tears fell down from my eyes to mix with the bloody water in the sink._

_Tired, angry, horrified and repentant sobs shook me miserably. I pitifully poured out all of my emotions into my sobs._

_Damn him. DAMN HIM TO HELL! _

_Angry, threatening curses ran through my head. All of them aimed towards one man: The man who had control over me, what I did, and what form I took._

_Ganon._

_I hated him. I hated him to a homicidal level. I hated him. But more than him, I hated myself._


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here we go again! Chapter 1 is here… Sorry I'm a little late… apparently I had more going on than I could foresee… **

**Chapter 1: Link's P.O.V.**

What a dirty bastard. What a sick, disgusting monster. But I can't help but wonder if I am any better.

The man behind the glass begins to sob. "Please! I don't know anything! Let me go!" I turned my head away when the fat guard pulled out a knife. A scream echoed throughout my ears. I risked a glance at Ganon. Not a single speck of emotion was betrayed on his face, but in his eyes, there was that glint of pride. Pride that he had the power to make another person scream.

No, I was better than him. I could never do that to a person. I ignored the bad conscience that called out in the back of my mind, reminding me that I _had._

When the screaming stopped, it was replaced with quiet sobs, and I knew that the man had lost something. This particular guard liked to cut off fingers. "Link!" I started as the evil man called my name.

I turned towards him with emotionless eyes. "Get him back to his cell." He turned and left.

I didn't dare glare at his retreating form. The guard exited from the room, his beady red eyes shimmered strangely. He was obviously pleased with the blood that coated his long, sharp knife. My lip curled in disgust at him.

Bulbin was a fat, greasy man who was high up on Ganon's hierarchy pyramid. Especially when it came to his victims.

If Ganon needed a man killed, he would turn to Bulbin, trusting him to do a quick and clean job, leaving behind no evidence or proof of the murder. He did have hundreds other men who worked for him, but very few that he trusted with anything serious.

I happened to be one of them, though it wasn't like I had worked hard to get there. For all the dirty jobs he needed done, he had me. Because he knew that I would do it exactly as he asked, exactly when he wanted me to.

I stole for him, sent messages, oversaw trades, and delivered packages.

He didn't quite trust me with his hit jobs, and that was perfectly fine with me. I guess he didn't have much to persuade me to do that with either, considering his current form of inducement. I walked into the "interviewing room" to complete the task Ganon had just ordered me to do.

Blood. Blood was everywhere. It was all over the table, the floor, the man's hand, his face. It was still pouring from the stub where his left middle finger was missing. A week ago he lost his first finger on that same hand. He cradled the hand, whimpering, tears and his own blood staining his pale, thin face.

There was the smell of rust in the air. I was so used to it by now that it no longer made me sick, despite my strong sense of smell. Not even the sight of dead bodies nauseated me any more. The sight of the pitiful man moaning in a ball still revolted me, however. Remorse and extreme guilt flooded me as I approached the man. He didn't know anything. He would have told. Ganon had already figured it out. The bastard just wanted to watch him suffer.

I restrained the man (though he didn't need it; he was already broken enough to know not to run) and got streaks of blood on my sleeves in the process. I brought him, dripping his own blood through the halls, to his dirty cell. He didn't even acknowledge me as I locked him in and walked away.

The apartment I lived in was actually an abandoned warehouse owed by Ganon. On the inside it looked normal enough, I guess, but on the outside, only a crazy or desperate man would dare to try and get inside.

I consider it an incredibly ideal place to live, considering it was far away from other people. The location itself was a little sketchy, being in the slumish outskirts of the city.

I entered through the basement door like always, being especially careful to lock the door behind me. I didn't want any more hobo visitors coming in looking for a place to stay.

Turning on the lights from my apartment, I gazed around the dreary room. It was mostly neutral colors, nothing fancy in it at all. I wasn't one for extravagance. There were no windows in the main room – consisting of a kitchen, dining room, and living room- just a large skylight on the ceiling over the kitchen to let in some traces of light. In one back corner was a door leading to the bathroom, and adjacent to that was my small bedroom.

When I threw my things to the ground I fell onto my couch, disgusted and dirty feeling. Mostly due to the fact that I had willingly done the horrible things Ganon had told me to do.

My head began to pound and I knew that no amount of Tylenol would help. "You're pitiful," a voice said in my head. It sounded like _him. _"Just look at you sitting there, feeling sorry for yourself!"

I sat up straight, putting my hands on my temples. It was true, I really was pitiful. Feeling tired, I stood up and walked into my bedroom, stripped down to my boxers and passed out in my bed, where strange, peaceful dreams would override the horrible reality I lived in.

-----------

_Link smiled down at his spontaneous little sister. She had just walked through the door with a dead full of bright green hair. He couldn't help but laugh at her proud and arrogant smile._

"_Whadya think?" She asked him grinning widely._

"_I think mom and dad are gonna kill you." He said laughing. _

_She winked at him deviously. "That's what I was goin' for!"_

_The two siblings jumped as the front door opened and a high pitched "Hello!" was heard. Link smirked at his sister's suddenly nervous face. Wasn't such a good idea now, was it squirt?_

"_Hey, mom," Link called back. Their mother walked in and smiled at them. Then she saw Saria's hair._

_Her expression of astonishment was so perfect Link had to keep himself from laughing. "SARIA! You…" She was dumbstruck. "Your HAIR!" _

_Saria tried to regain her smugness. "Yeah, do ya like it?" Their mother was speechless for a moment. _

"_Hey! Listen! You are to go up and wash all of the dye out of your hair right now!" Even Link flinched. Everyone knew that when their mother demanded something, you obeyed._

_Saria opened her mouth to protest, of course, but one stern look from the strict woman crushed any thought of rebellion. She pouted her face childishly and commenced her walk of shame upstairs._

_-----------_

Morning. Ugh. How I hated it. I even hated the idea of waking from that wonderful, magical, dream world where life wasn't such a burden, and I could relive those happy times I didn't remember when I was awake. The dreams had started about a year ago; 2 years after I had began to work for Ganon.

The dreams were a mystery to me. I didn't remember much of them when I was awake. All I could recall were blurry faces and echoing voices, all vaguely familiar. My dreams were the only link I had to my old life. The one I couldn't remember.

Ganon had not requested me to arrive at the headquarters that day, so technically, I had the day off. What the hell was I supposed to do all day? Although my rare "vacation time" was much appreciated - considering I didn't have to be around _him –_ I usually didn't know what to do with myself during the time alone. I didn't have anyone to hang out with, and I wasn't the time of person to indulge in solitary entertainment. Sometimes I did chores to keep myself occupied, but today, I had nothing to do.

For about an hour I sat on my leather couch and watched stupid daytime television shows about goofy, happy families who caused mischief in their neighborhoods, and had no troubles in the world except for their children failing a test, or getting a new, unruly pet. Eventually, I got sick of it and had to turn it off. After that, I made a small breakfast and left the mess on the table.

I decided to take a walk. A quiet walk through the slumish run down buildings in the area isn't most people's first choice, but it gave me time to think. Generally, the last thing I ever wanted to do was sit down and think but for some reason, today, it seemed like a good idea.

I wondered about the man who would probably be killed soon. Had he been a father who had to support his family? Was his family sitting home now, wondering where he had gone, and worrying over if he was okay or not? Did they know that they would never see him again? I pitied them. They would never even know what had happened to him.

I was nearing the livelier part of the city now. Still, there were less people then would be found downtown, even if it wasn't the clubbing hour yet.

A fairly young man of roughly twenty-eight passed by me. With him was his ever so perfect looking family. His wife was young and happy looking, with a little baby girl in the stroller she was pushing and a little four-year-old boy holding his father's hand.

A bitter pang (of what, exactly, I wasn't sure) stung me, and I couldn't help but feel severe bitterness towards the man and his perfect life.

This always happened when I was around normal people. My pathetic self-pitying began to overcome all other reason, and I began to get angry.

A single sickeningly bittersweet idea gave me a small, guilty sense of satisfaction, however. When the perfection of their lives began to run out , as it always did, the misery would be so much harder to bear.

I immediately thought of the soon-to-be-dead-man's possible family again. How terribly was the misery taking hold of them now?

Any prior satisfaction I had gained from thinking of the misery of the happy family I had seen turned to solid, irrevocable regret. Immediately, I turned in place and made my sad way back to my solitude.


End file.
